The Conversation: Recent Topics
For more information, please contact Steven Reid at: steven.reid3@carleton.ca\
Updated May 28, 2026
Time-sensitive requests tied to the news with quick turnarounds/pitches required:
Quarter Life: Series written for young people (20s-30s):
Benefits of birdwatching: Looking for an expert to write a story about what the mental health and cognitive benefits of bird watching are, and how people can get started.
Deadline: ASAP
Seeking an expert in neuroscience to write a story about hobbies and cognitive decline. How can certain hobbies boost cognitive health and keep your brain sharp as you age?
Deadline: ASAP
Arts:
Canadian film and TV: Seeking story pitches related to summer viewing suggestions related to new and noteworthy Canadian film and TV, including titles acknowledged at the Canadian Screen awards.
Québec’s movie and TV ecosystem and recent acclaimed productions: Seeking an English-language story highlighting viewing suggestions related to new and noteworthy French-language cinema and television from Québec, including recent award winners.
Business + Economy:
Looking for an explainer about prediction markets like Polymarket. What are they and how do they work? And how do they fall into the grey area of not quite being gambling, legally speaking?
Deadline: ASAP
Online prediction market traders are making millions betting on U.S. military operations on prediction markets like Polymarket. Looking for an expert to write about any high-profile cases of it and the ethics behind this.
Deadline: ASAP
Environment + Energy:
Seeking articles explaining the diseases affecting oysters in PEI, and what is/can be done to mitigate the impact on the local industry.
Deadline: ASAP
Seeking articles on the environmental impacts of large events like the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Deadline: ASAP
Health + Medicine
Infectious diseases: Interested in pitches on Ebola outbreak, including vaccine development, global risks and explainers that cover what Ebola is, how it spreads and context for Canadians. Also interested in stories about how Ebola outbreak may affect international events such as FIFA World Cup.
Deadline: ASAP
Pandemic readiness: Looking for expert analysis of the WHO announcement and Global Preparedness Monitoring Board report about lack of preparedness for pandemics.
Deadline: ASAP
Science + Technology:
What is the impact on oceanside and marine life when rockets like SpaceX’s Starship V3 splashdown and explode?
Deadline: ASAP
What are the emerging technologies and/or ethics of de-extinction? For example, U.S.-based Colossal Biosciences just announced it has developed a 3D-printed “egg,” with hopes to resurrect an extinct South Island giant moa from New Zealand.
Deadline: ASAP
AI in your brain? Seeking analyses of technology that is being developed to add AI to brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) for people with neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. ALS). What are the benefits, and the privacy/ethics issues?
Deadline: ASAP
Education:
Seeking research about summer camps and child learning over the summer.
Evergreen requests that aren’t time-sensitive so pitches are welcome any time:
Arts:
Looking for books and film stories from arts and humanities scholars.
Deadline: Ongoing
Business + Economy:
Looking for a story about what research actually says about writing resumes and cover letters. There’s a lot of misinformation and “career guru” advice out there. What do we really know about how resumes and cover letters are evaluated, and what actually improves a candidate’s chances of getting hired?
Deadline: ASAP
Updated May 14, 2026
Time-sensitive requests tied to the news with quick turnarounds/pitches required:
Quarter Life: Series written for young people (20s-30s):
Seeking an expert in neuroscience to write a story about hobbies and cognitive decline. How can certain hobbies boost cognitive health and keep your brain sharp as you age?
Deadline: ASAP
Arts
Looking for stories related to Canadian TV, film and industries before the Canadian Screen awards.
Business + Economy:
Looking for a story about what research actually says about writing resumes and cover letters. There’s a lot of misinformation and “career guru” advice out there. What do we really know about how resumes and cover letters are evaluated, and what actually improves a candidate’s chances of getting hired?
Deadline: ASAP
Environment + Energy:
Seeking articles explaining the diseases affecting oysters in PEI, and what is/can be done to mitigate the impact on the local industry.
Deadline: ASAP
Seeking articles on the environmental impacts of large events like the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Deadline: Ongoing
Health + Medicine:
Polycystic ovary syndrome name change to polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome: Looking for an explainer about the name change, why it was made and how it may affect patients, diagnosis and care
Deadline: ASAP
Politics:
“Sleepy Don” — Seeking an analysis by a media/politics scholar on why mainstream media is not reporting on Donald Trump’s obvious health issues the way it did with Joe Biden. What’s different?
Deadline: ASAP
Politics/Health:
Seeking a health expert to explain what could be ailing Donald Trump? Unsteady gait, falling asleep publicly, bruises on hands and an occasional angry-looking neck rash. What ailment/diseases/treatments exhibit these symptoms?
Deadline: ASAP
Science + Technology:
Could contact lenses be the next smart glasses? A Dubai-based company is designing a prototype. What will this mean if we have augmented reality direct to our eyeballs? Seeking an analysis.
Deadline: ASAP
Is AI conscious? What is consciousness? Richard Dawkins thinks, “these intelligent beings are at least as competent as any evolved organism.” Seeking a discussion of this, from any discipline drawing from scholarship on consciousness.
Deadline: ASAP
Evergreen requests that aren’t time-sensitive so pitches are welcome any time:
Arts:
Looking for books and film stories from arts and humanities scholars.
Deadline: Ongoing
Politics:
Looking ahead to the U.S. mid-term elections in November, including analysis of of recent redistributing efforts and court decisions What’s at stake for Donald Trump, Republicans and Democrats?
Deadline: Any time before September
Updated April 28, 2026
Quarter Life: Series written for young people (20s-30s):
Seeking a story about hobbies and cognitive decline. How can certain hobbies boost cognitive health and keep your brain sharp as you age?
Deadline: ASAP
Looking for a story about what research actually says about writing resumes and cover letters. There’s a lot of misinformation and “career guru” advice out there. What do we really know about how resumes and cover letters are evaluated, and what actually improves a candidate’s chances of getting hired?
Deadline: ASAP
Business + Economy:
Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the government will create a sovereign wealth fund at the federal level. This is a first for Canada, and I’m seeking an explainer on what this fund is, and how it is expected to work.
Deadline: ASAP
Culture + Society:
I am looking for linguist experts or language scholars to unpack the meanings, histories and cultural stakes behind the words we use every day like new memes, catchphrases, slang, jargon or idioms for our series Slanguage.
Deadline: ASAP
Looking for a health sociologist or a disability studies scholar to write an evidence-based piece on the “spoon theory,” a framework that describes how people with chronic illness, disability or mental health conditions manage limited daily energy.
Deadline: ASAP
Politics:
Seeking an analysis on Mark Carney’s “cult of personality” tied to byelection wins and defections. Why does everyone want to be part of his team? Is he essentially serving as a wartime prime minister?
Deadline: ASAP
Science + Technology:
NASA’s Curiosity rover found organic molecules on Mars, according to an article published in Nature today. Seeking a science-based perspective on this.
Deadline: ASAP
What are the ‘corona’ discharges that appear as tiny UV flashes at the tips of leaves? Scientists from Penn State have captured them for the first time in nature. Looking for an explainer.
Deadline: ASAP
Seeking articles on Anthropic, Mythos and cybersecurity.
Deadline: ASAP
A new space race? The U.S. is hustling against China to have humans land again on the moon. NASA is hoping Musk’s SpaceX / Bezos’ Blue Origin will make it happen. Seeking original perspectives on this.
Deadline: ASAP
Seeking articles on the psychology of AI Lego ‘slopaganda’ — how does it work on our minds, how does it impact what we know as truth or sway public opinion?
Deadline: ASAP
Evergreen requests that aren’t time-sensitive so pitches are welcome any time:
Arts
Girls or women and their dogs: DC will launch Supergirl this summer, another superhero film profiling canine-hero companions. Seeking to assign a summer story to a scholar in a related field to examine this theme.
Deadline: July 3, 2026
Business + Economy:
Seeking pitches on both consumer interest stories and personal finance.
Deadline: Ongoing
Science + Technology:
Fascinating species: Are you a biologist, ecologist or other researcher who studies an intriguing being — from fungi, to worms, to whales…. Share your research with us!
Deadline: Ongoing
NASA’s Artemis II mission has inspired renewed interest in space. Seeking astronomers, astrobiologists or other space-related researchers — to share recent research findings, or explainers about big questions tasking their discipline.
Deadline: Ongoing